The HabForum

Space Camp might be looking to put together a retrospective for their 35th anniversary.

Were they to do that, what sorts of things would you want to see in it? What should the tone be?

One suggestion was to have people submit selfie videos talking about what Space Camp has meant to them in their lives. Would you be willing to make one?

Post your thoughts below!

I love the idea.

I saw that scholarship recipient video post they made and thought of doing one in front of the FFT but I am SEVERELY lacking in video skills. I would submit something if someone else could edit it... (I received a scholarship as a youth.)

As for what I would want to see, hypothetically unless they post it somewhere, would be how Camp has changed over the years and the impact it has made on some people's lives. I know people who met there and later got married, people who went on to have prominent STEM careers. Also, so the rest of us don't feel like total underachievers, highlighting the friendships made at camp and dreams come true just to be there - the stuff we can all relate to, regardless of where life took us after camp.

Just my two bits.

A retrospective video showing clips from each earlier year might be good. I know that a video was made of my Parent/Child program in 1994 and lots of campers probably have other videos that they made over the years. I have a really nice one from my 1996 camp. I transferred them to DVD.

I have only ever been there as an adult and can't really say my life has been affected by SC, even though I've loved the 4 times I've been so far.
I don't think any video I could do other than the slideshows I've done could be of interest to anyone.

Any kind of retrospective should be nostalgic. I think the video should show the humble beginnings, old photos and video clips and memorabilia along with commentary from those who were there. Ed Buckbee, Dr. B, etc. Maybe even have some ex counselors from the early days telling their stories. The sort of thing you expect for an anniversary or tribute of so many years.

I would be against having people talk about how Camp affected their lives and careers as we get enough of that already. It's universal and doesn't apply to an anniversary. It's more like promo and infomercial material. This sort of thing is useful, but not in the context of something that's supposed to be retrospective about the organization as a whole.

I'd also be against anything that mentions the future or anything SLS. Keep it retro and nostalgic.

Generally speaking from my experience, it would be a cool thing to do. I'd be interested in participating. From my perspective, it would be my experience of going with my HS class in 1996. Now if this was considered Pathfinder or Astrotek, I've yet to ever get clarity of what exactly it was considered, however that time at SC did leave an impact on my life, even if it was not considered part of the 'regular' camp experience. Going to Space Camp sparked my interest in computer science and technology, which shaped my future and career to this day. My daughter and I just returned from family camp this week, so it meant something to me to share the 'camp' experience with her and to come full circle as a parent sharing something that meant the world to me as a teenager. (And to 'officially' be deemed alumni!) Even though my parents were not keen on me flying states away to Huntsville or Florida at the time for the full camp, I jumped at the chance to go with my HS classmates to go when the opportunity arose. From my perspective, I could share my experience from the angle of a student and a parent. I'd have to try to locate any old photos from my first time there, but would be cool to do. I'm already itching to go back to Huntsville to do the adult camp program! (And to hopefully be on teams with fellow hab1 forum members!)

I would like to see some acknowledgement of Konrad Dannenberg from the von Braun team who taught many a camper.
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Hotdog wrote:Any kind of retrospective should be nostalgic. I think the video should show the humble beginnings, old photos and video clips and memorabilia along with commentary from those who were there. Ed Buckbee, Dr. B, etc. Maybe even have some ex counselors from the early days telling their stories. The sort of thing you expect for an anniversary or tribute of so many years.

Hotdog wrote:I'd also be against anything that mentions the future or anything SLS. Keep it retro and nostalgic.

I agree 100% with the above.

Space Camp has posted some nice, though brief, retrospectives on social media today.

I am still waiting to see old photos of the campus as it has changed throughout the years. The Coca Cola clock that had time and temperature (in F and C!), the old entrance, old gift shop, old rainbow corridor, the robot by the gift shop... All the this we never took photos of way back when because we only came to camp with two or three rolls of film and used it on friends, being silly, and other camp activities.

Wouldn't it be neat to have a photo book, hosted online somewhere, where you clicked on a year and it populated a page with photos from that year? A combination of corporate/official photos and ones from campers?

Anyway, getting ahead of myself and somewhat off topic. I am excited to see what else happens at SpaceFest this year (via reports from others).